


Never Make Deals with Mermaids

by breeeliss



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adventure, Blood Thirsty Mermaids, F/M, Magic, Pirate AU, Reluctant Partners to Friends to Lovers, Reluctant Pirates, Seafaring, Slow Burn, Violence, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 13:54:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10968594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breeeliss/pseuds/breeeliss
Summary: The only reason Adrien came up with such an elaborate trap for a mermaid was to sell her on the market, rake in some gold, and get a new ship to help him carry out some business. Simple as that.The plan wasn’t for this mermaid to attack his crew, hold him at sword point, and steal his maps for some ridiculous mission involving magical stones, egomaniacal pirates, and a plot to stop the end of the world.This beautifully dangerous creature was certainly going to be the end of him.





	1. Capturing a Mermaid

**Author's Note:**

> inspired bc i wanted a mermaid au where mermaids were badass, bloodthirsty, and had a certified license to kill. it was supposed to be a one-shot, but let's ignore that bit for now. 
> 
> i know that there are a million and one pirate/mermaid au's but i'd appreciate some comments/kudos if you happen to read on!

“Adrien, let me be the first to say that I still think this is a ridiculously stupid idea.”

Adrien pulled the flask out of his coat and pulled the cork out with his teeth. “Aw, come on, Nino. Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“My sense of adventure is perfectly intact, thank you very much,” Nino frowned. “So is my sense of self preservation. This is a suicide mission, you idiot!”

“It’s only a suicide mission if I screw it up. And for your information, I’ve thought this out meticulously. It’ll work. Besides, I know you’re secretly hoping that we pull this off. You know how much we need the money.”

Nino sighed as Adrien shed his captain’s hat and his coat and draped them in Nino’s arms. “There are other ways to fund a journey to the Eastern Seas, you know. It doesn’t have to include chasing after a fairytale.”

“It’s not a fairytale,” Adrien insisted, unbuttoning his shirt and throwing it over Nino’s head. “I’ve done my research. Went to a library and everything.”

“Yeah! You did research! Based on the drunken ramblings of past sailors! That hardly counts. You’re putting your life on the line for this.“

“You worry too much, buddy. I’ve got this under control.” Adrien turned around to the rest of his crew and held up the knife he kept strapped to his thigh. “Alright gentlemen, listen up! There are rumors of mermaids in this part of the sea, so we’ve got one chance to do this right.” He pointed the knife at Kim. “Are the nets ready?”

“Yes captain!” Kim smirked. “Got them off a cool chick from the last port town we stopped at. She promised me they’re as strong as they come. We’ll let them down when you give the signal.”

“Perfect,” Adrien grinned. He moved his knife across the crowd. “Max!”

“We’ll be tying you to the mast of the ship,” Max announced. “I took a few gun holsters and refashioned them into a sling that should let us pull you out of the water if anything goes wrong.” He threw the tangle of leather straps at Adrien. “But….try not to let anything go wrong.”

Adrien stepped through the sling and started to tighten it around his waist. “No promises. Ivan! Keep this ship nice and steady!”

“Yes captain!” Ivan saluted back, moving over with four other crew members while Adrien called over to Nathanael.

“Nath, I’m gonna need you to have those ropes ready to tie her hands when we catch her, okay? I don’t need her tearing this crew apart with those claws of hers.”

Nathanael patted the ropes hanging off of his belt. “At the ready, captain. Don’t you worry.”

“Perfect.” Adrien patted Nino on the shoulder. “You’re in charge and you call the shots until I come back.”

“You better not screw this up,” Nino warned.

“Relax!” Adrien laughed. “I trust you all to pull me up if anything goes wrong. You have the satchel?”

“Yeah, everything’s in there,” he said, handing it over to Adrien who made sure to tighten the strap as he slung it across his chest. “You’re all set, I guess.”

“Looks like it. Just the bait left.” Adrien closed his hand around his knife, bit his lip, and sliced his palm open. He handed the knife off to one of his crew members as he closed his fist and dripped his blood into the empty flask until it was halfway full. He reached down, ripped a small strip of fabric from the ends of his trousers, and tied it around his wound before climbing up on the rail. “Alright, men. Keep that rope taut. Not planning on going more than six meters under. Be at the ready.”

Adrien gripped the flask of his blood tightly and threw it as far as he could away from the ship and into the ocean. He gave one final salute to his crew before he bent his knees and dove head first into the ocean below.

There wasn’t a lot of information on mermaids — Adrien knew only what his mother told him when he was a little boy and what he read in old sailor and captain logs. They weren’t the beautiful and kind creatures that were featured in his old storybooks. They were vain, bloodthirsty monsters who enjoyed collecting treasure, sinking ships, and drowning sailors before eating them for supper. There weren’t many sailors alive who’ve seen a mermaid because mermaids made it a point to leave no survivors when they were bored, hungry, and in the mood for plundering pirate ships for gold.

But Adrien wasn’t one who liked dwelling on the negatives. Amidst all that talk, he knew of sailors who’ve walked away with satchels full of gold just from putting a few scales, teeth, and claws on the market. He could practically see the carts of money that would be coming to him if he managed to sell an _entire_ mermaid, intact from head to tail. That would be more than enough money to buy a new ship to take him across the Eastern Seas and finally get back what was stolen from him.

Of course, the trick was to first capture a mermaid.

Adrien swam until he was far away enough from the ship for the thick fog to completely obscure the vessel and leave him bobbing in the water alone. He only had a vague sense of where he threw the flask of his blood, but he knew he didn’t have to worry about trying to spot a mermaid if one decided to come. A mermaid’s scales glimmered and glowed bright enough to be seen even through the thickest of fogs. If one was in the water nearby, he’d see it.

He stayed bobbing above the surface for only a few more minutes before a glimmer of red caught his eye. It was barely anything — probably half a second of color — but it was enough for Adrien. He dipped half his face under the water so that he was only visible from the nose up and watched the same spot once more. He had to physically hold in his excitement and not make any noise when he saw a red tail flip out of the water and dip back underneath the surface. That certainly wasn’t a dolphin, a whale, or any kind of fish that Adrien had ever heard of. He took a deep breath, and slipped underneath the water, getting as far from the surface as he dared.

Adrien’s eyes stung as he opened his eyes to see past the salt water, but as his eyes adjusted, he was rewarded for all his efforts with the sight of a mermaid — an actual honest to God mermaid — sticking her finger inside the flask he threw and licking up all the blood she was able to find in there.

He wasn’t sure how it was possible for something to look so frightening and so stunningly beautiful at the same time, but this creature was proof of it. Her tail was covered in red and black scales that spread up her stomach, across her breasts, and down her forearms where more fins sprouted from where her wrist bones should’ve been. Her hair was long and black and floated around her face as she tipped her head to peer into the lip of the bottle, almost put off that there wasn’t more blood for her to eat. She snarled, and it was then that Adrien was able to see her horribly sharp teeth and her long, black, terrible claws that looked like they were made specifically for stripping skin off of human bones. Her eyes were the worst part — brilliantly blue, but slitted and positively sinister. She was everything all his research prepared him for and didn’t.

Adrien quietly opened the satchel still strapped to him and pulled out his second form of bait — a silver mirror that Adrien hired a metalworker to encrust with strings of pearls, gold coins, and silver chains that he had found during his years of raiding other ships and ports for anything of value. Apparently, there was one thing that mermaids may have liked more than the stench of human flesh, and that was themselves and anything precious, shiny, and of worth.

He held the mirror up in front of him so that it concealed his face, waiting for the mermaid to notice it. Sure enough, she turned her head and immediately blinked, smiled, and started fiddling with her hair when she noticed her reflection in the mirror. She started to swim closer to him, and Adrien took that as his queue to start slowly swimming back towards the ship.

The mermaid happily followed, probably assuming that the mirror was floating away with the tides of the sea and not being controlled by a mere pirate. He had to be sure to not move too quickly or too suddenly. One wrong move, and his crew would be pulling up a skeleton instead of their captain. But Adrien had practiced this maneuver in the water plenty of times before today, despite all of Nino’s reservations. He’d been preparing for this. Nothing was going to get in the way of him catching this mermaid.

He looked over his shoulder and saw the ship coming up behind him. He reached up and tugged on his rope three times, alerting his crew that the mermaid was in place and that they should be ready to pull the nets up and capture her. But it seemed that movement was a little too obvious, because the mermaid in front of him frowned, reached her hand towards the mirror, and lowered it so that Adrien’s face was showing.

Adrien’s eyes widened and he gasped, accidentally letting out the last precious bits of air that he had left in his lungs to last him until his crew could come pick him up. He was about to yank on the rope again and tell them to hurry, but for some reason it didn’t seem like the mermaid was intent on devouring him, at least not yet. She tilted her head this way and that, as if admiring his face like it was some strange, fascinating creature she’d never seen before. She reached out towards him with one black claw, and Adrien flinched when she gently dragged it down his cheek and across his jaw, drawing no blood and leaving not a single mark. She laughed at the look on his face, cupped his cheeks with both of her cold, scaly hands, and breathed out in awe. “ _Perfect.”_

Her voice was beautifully melodic, but was ruined with the sound of her teeth grinding together, still red from the blood she’d been eating just moments before. Her nails started digging painfully into his cheeks, and her smile turned cruel when she reached forward as if to start feasting on his face first, but Adrien figured that his distraction had stretched on for long enough. Using all of his strength, he lifted his knee and kicked his boot right into the stomach of the mermaid, leaving her to lurch backwards. She shook her head and growled, her eyes almost glowing with her anger, but it was already too late.

Adrien already felt the rope pulling him up out of the water at the same time he saw the nets planted by his crew hoist up and tangle around the mermaid. The moment he broke the surface he started gasping for breath and reached to his side for the rope ladder that Nino had dropped. “Fuck, Adrien! Are you alright?”

“Just peachy,” he coughed out. Next to him, he saw the mermaid screaming and snarling in the nets, already trying to use her claws to slice through the ropes and escape. “Hurry up and get her on deck! And tie her hands up, she’s already eviscerating that net!”

He struggled to fit his feet on the rungs and get back up towards the rail, but luckily Nino’s hand was waiting for him to help pull him onto the deck. Nino shoved a cup of something warm in his hands and draped his captain’s coat over his shoulders to keep him dry. “You’re the stupidest thing alive, I swear.”

Adrien laughed brightly. “Hey, what’d I tell ya? It worked, didn’t it?” He turned to look at the scene in front of him that consisted of Ivan pressing his boot down into the mermaid’s shoulder blades to give Nathanael room to quickly tie her hands behind her back in a series of complicated knots that even her claws couldn’t reach. She was gnashing and snapping her teeth at them, but eventually they all backed away from her and left her squirming around on the deck, completely defenseless.

“Shit,” Nathanael panted. “She’s _strong!_ ”

“She’s a deadly beast that drags sailors down to the bottom of the ocean,” Adrien explained. “She better be strong. I hope none of you laid a sword on her.”

“Not a scratch, captain,” Ivan sighed, wincing at the gash on his left arm. “Can’t say the same for ourselves.”

Adrien lifted a hand towards the pinpricks of blood on the side of his face left by her claws as he walked towards the mermaid. She ceased her thrashing the moment he stepped in front of her, instead choosing to glare at them with those deep, terrifying eyes. He kneeled down and stroked his chin. “How much do you think she’ll go on the market for?”

“Catching just the scales of a mermaid is almost unheard of, let alone the whole thing,” Nino explained. “I’m almost afraid people won’t believe us.”

“There’s no faking this,” Adrien said. “Even I can’t believe it but she’s right here in front of us.”

“In that case,” Nino sighed. “More money than we can ever imagine. Plenty for a bigger ship. More crew members. Rations to last us years. New weapons. We’ll be more than set to head for the Eastern Sea.”

“Which means Hawkmoth is in for a rude awakening soon,” Adrien smirked. He stood up and pulled his arms through the sleeves of his coat. “Help me bring her into the navigation room. She won’t cause any trouble there.”

Adrien and Nino grabbed the robes of the nets and dragged the mermaid below deck, pulling her past the crew’s quarters, past the captain’s quarters, and towards Adrien’s navigation room. Strangely enough, she’d grown completely silent and had stopped all her thrashing, letting Adrien and Nino deposit her in the corner of the room so that she could sit up straight and lean against the wall. Nino wiped his forehead and whistled under his breath. “She’s a fucking scary little thing to look at.”

“She’s not going to do anything,” Adrien assured. “Not like she can move much in all those ropes.”

They both jumped back in shock when she snapped her teeth together and screeched, her voice sounding broken and high pitched now that it was out of the ocean. “You two are lucky!” she hissed out, making both men lift their hands to their ears to stop the discordant noise from bursting their ear drums. “I could kill you both in seconds!”

“God! Fucking gag her or something!” Adrien shouted. “She’s giving me a headache!”

Nino looked around the room, pulled a handkerchief off of Adrien’s desk of maps, and stuffed it into the mermaids mouth, tying it behind her head and keeping her silent. “Jesus Christ, she’s gonna be a fucking delight to travel with. You sure you don’t want to just — ”

“If buyers prefer her dead, we’ll kill her when we get there,” Adrien insisted. “But something tells me she’s of more value alive. So she lives until we get back to the city.”

Nino wrinkled his nose in her direction when she glared at him and tried to move the gag out the way. “And until then?”

Adrien shrugged. “Get Mikael and Jean to bring her some raw meat or something. Or get her a barrel to swim around in. I don’t care. I’m going to my quarters to change.”

“So we’re just going to leave her here?”

“She’s a mermaid stuck on a ship, gagged and bound with ropes,” Adrien pointed out. “What harm could she possibly cause?”

* * *

 Adrien was actively dreading heading back North to the city where he grew up, but he didn’t have much of a choice. He was from one of the richest port towns in the world, and if he was hoping to get a sizeable reward for the mermaid he caught, it was best to offer her up to merchants who were willing to lay down a decent amount of gold in exchange.

That being said, it wasn’t as if Adrien was just another citizen. News of him coming back to the city would no doubt reach his father, and he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to avoid his father scouring every single bar, pub, and inn to find his son and convince him that his foolish seafaring was not only childish but certifiable to get him killed. Gabriel Agreste was much more interested in seeing his son finish school, become a scholar, take over their tailoring business, or even weasel his way into the courts of the king further West. God knows his father had an entire list of things he would’ve rather seen his son doing than sailing around the world for thrills and treasure.

“You know, I kinda miss your dad,” Nino chuckled, leaning against the rails and looking out at the sea next to Adrien. “He’s got a stick so far up his ass it’s kinda funny to take the piss out on him.”

Adrien snorted. “Well, I’m glad you find him amusing. I’m going to come home and face the music of how much of a disappointment I am. But hey! At least he’s consistent.”

Nino frowned. “Not that I’m defending him or anything because, trust me, the man makes me want to vomit on sight. But, as high strung as he is, I think he does honestly worry for you. Being a merchant or a tailor or a scholar is a lot safer than getting into sword fights with other pirates.”

“It’s also more boring,” Adrien pointed out. “I get that he worries, but I’m a big boy. Just hit the age of majority and everything. I have a right to go after what I want, and that doesn’t involve staying in that city and giving my father more of a reason to control what I do. At least out here, I get to breathe.”

“And steal maps, books, gold, pearls, and fancy swords for you to ogle.”

“Hey, you like the swords too.”

“What can I say, they’re cool and it’s not like my mom liked the idea of me picking fights with people down by the port for the sake of a thrill. I’m on your side.”

Adrien bumped his shoulder with Nino’s and chuckled. He sighed and stared down into the dark water, the moon already high in the sky. “Anyway….you know this voyage is important to me. I have to find Hawkmoth.”

Nino sighed. “Adrien, you don’t even know if he still _has_ it. This could be a huge waste of time.”

“No, I know he still has it,” Adrien said assuredly. “He knows how valuable it is. It’s been in the Agreste family for years.”

“I don’t get it dude,” Nino said. “No offense to your family’s heirloom or whatever, but they’re not _that_ valuable. What else would he do with it but sell it? I mean, even if he’s a stupid pirate that just goes after anything that seems precious, he’s not going to get much out of this. Surely he knows that.”

“I don’t know,” Adrien admitted. “Hawkmoth isn’t the type to just go for money. There’s more to it than that. I don’t know what he’s planning, but it doesn’t matter. He’s stolen one too many things from me and I want it back. Last port town we were at, a bunch of pirates said they heard he was heading towards the Eastern Isles looking for someone. That’s our best bet to get it back and figure out what he’s up to. My guess it’s nothing good.”

“Look, I’m with you until the end on this buddy,” Nino told him. “Just….make sure you don’t get yourself tied up in anything dangerous. There are worse things out there than nasty pirates, and not a lot of people have navigated towards the Eastern Isles because the journey is so long and dangerous. Who knows what’s out there. Shit, if _mermaids_ exist, who knows what else we might run into?”

“Well,” Adrien chuckled. “We wouldn’t be pirates if we didn’t have a death wish every once in awhile.”

“You’re impossible,” Nino said, shaking his head. “Alright man! I’ll humor you, but I’m telling you. Your ass gets killed, I’m gonna kill you.”

Adrien held out his fist and waited for Nino to bump it. “It’s a bet.”

“Captain!”

Adrien turned around and saw Kim running across the deck towards him. “What’s up, Kim?”

“Know when dinner’s going to go on? The rest of us are starving.”

“I thought Mikael and the rest of the boys were handling that,” he frowned.

“Yeah, about that,” Kim winced. “I can’t find Mikael and Jean. They’re in charge of dinner today aren’t they?”

“Yeah,” Nino confirmed. “They should’ve started about an hour ago. What the hell are those two doing?”

“I mean last I saw them was when you sent them to give food to the mermaid….” Adrien’s sentence trailed off, eyes widening in horror as he turned his head towards the steps that led down below deck. “Shit, you don’t think….”

Nino pulled the cap off his head. “Oh fuck me, how long have they been gone?”

“Son of a _bitch!”_ Adrien shouted. He pulled his sword out of the scabbard hanging on his hip and ran for the stairs. “Keep everyone away from the navigation room and keep everyone above deck! I’ll be right back!”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

“We might have to kill this thing earlier than I planned.”

Adrien jumped down the stairs, sword brandished, and sprinted towards the navigation room, quickly passing by all his crew members meandering around the halls wondering when dinner was going to be served in the dining room. He yelled at all of them to head back up on deck and steer clear of the rooms until he bashed a boot into the door navigation room and watched it burst open. He walked in with the sharp point of his sword thrust out in front of him, but was taken aback when he was also met face to face with the end of another sword.

“Careful, Captain. You’re not the only one who knows their way around a blade.”

Evidently, it seemed as if Adrien didn’t know as much about mermaids as he thought, because none of the books and sightings had ever told him that mermaids had the ability to sprout _legs_ and look wholly _human_.

But there was no mistaking that this was the mermaid he’d just caught. She was sitting atop his desk covered with his maps, legs — very long, very human legs — crossed daintily at the knee, wearing one of his coats that he’d left hanging on the hook by the door, and brandishing one of his swords that he’d left strapped to the underside of his navigation table for emergencies only. Her voice no longer sounded like broken glass grinding together, but it no longer held the melodic and almost hypnotic quality that it held when he found her underwater. It was no more remarkable than his own voice, and her gills, scales, and fins were all gone to leave nothing more than stretches of smooth, pale skin. Her eyes were no longer slitted and looked human as well, but they were still hauntingly and unnaturally blue.

“What the hell is the meaning of this?” Adrien demanded. “What, you things can sprout legs?”

The mermaid chuckled, her teeth no more extraordinary than his own and her claws retracted back into short, pink nails. “Aw, did your little pirate tales not warn you about that? It’s admittedly not a very common skill, but when you’re as old as me, you learn a few tricks when you venture onto shore. Let our tails get dry and legs are soon to follow. You might want to take note before you leave me bound and gagged in a corner like a dead fish.”

“And I’m assuming walking amongst humans allowed you pick up on a few tricks.” He jutted his chin towards her sword. “Do you know how to handle that thing?”

“Don’t patronize me, human,” she frowned. “You’d be surprised how dangerous I can be even without my tail. Your crew members were very much caught by surprise.”

Adrien gritted his teeth. “Where are they?”

The mermaid smiled cruelly, hopped down from her perch, and kept her sword pointed at Adrien. “Oh, they’d come down here saying you sent them to bring me my dinner. Sweet boys. I appreciated the snack.”

“Don’t tell me you fucking — ”

“Oh come on!” she laughed, leaning down behind the navigation table and pulling on the collar of what was once Jean — now with huge chunks of his neck torn out and parts of his chest and stomach slashed open and eviscerated like he’d been subject to a rather enthusiastic meal. “Did you really think your animal meat was going to be enough to feed me when you bring such _deliciously_ strapping gentlemen to me instead?”

Adrien moved to the side so that he could get a better view behind the navigation table, and he felt bile rise in his throat when he saw Mikael in a similar state. They were just boys, new recruits on his ship who’d only been here for a few months. They’d heard stories of Adrien and his crew and came to him excitedly asking for an opportunity to sail the seas with him. He’d taken them on and promised that he’d protect them and never let anything happen to them. He promised them. And now they were dead and gutted on his floor.

He moved closer to the mermaid and touched the tip of his blade under her chin, but not before she pressed her own sword right against his Adam’s apple. “I should kill you for this!”

“For what?” she snarled. “For surviving? For doing what’s in my nature? Those are tall words coming from a human who was planning to chop my tail off and sell it to the highest bidder in exchange for money to feed his own greed. You’re angry at _me_ for this? I should kill _you_.”

Adrien snickered. “You kill me and my whole crew will come down here seeking out your life. And I don’t care how dangerous you _think_ you are. I know you can’t face down an entire crew of men by yourself.”

The mermaid hesitated, and suddenly her teeth had morphed into the sharp rows of teeth that he’d recognized under the waters. “Watch your tone with me human!”

“Lower your sword!” he demanded. “I’ll do the same. And then we can talk. No more blood. No more violence. Can we agree to that?”

“My kind don’t make a habit of making deals with pirates,” the mermaid snarled.

“And I don’t make a habit of making deals with killers, yet here we are. Lower. Your. Sword.”

The mermaid set her jaw, teeth reverting back to normal. “You first.”

“And give you the chance to eat me?” Adrien asked. “No thank you.”

“I understand that humans are all liars and thieves, but I can assure you that my word is one you can trust. I won’t kill you. Lower your sword first. Otherwise I cut you down right here.”

This was not how any of this was supposed to go. He assumed a mermaid out of water was about as harmless as a fly, but evidently he supposed Nino was right about messing around with things he knew nothing about. But there was no sense in trying to piss off a creature that had more powers and secrets than he had initially anticipated. If he didn’t play along with her, there was a chance that she could serve as a threat to the rest of his crew and Adrien couldn’t let that happen. He swallowed, pursed his lips, and carefully lowered his sword, slipping it back into its scabbard. He unclipped it from his belt, threw it into the corner of the room, and raised both of his hands. “There. You said you’d keep your word.”

The mermaid didn’t look amused, but she expertly flipped the sword around, slipped it into its scabbard, and threw it aside as well. “I did indeed.”

Adrien slowly started backing up towards the door, hands still in the air, until his lower back connected with the knob. “Considering you’ve already killed two of my men, I think I reserve the right to lock us in here to keep them safe.”

“Aren’t you honorable,” she said. “Fine. If you think that’ll keep you all safe, it’s of no consequence to me.”

He reached into his pocket, pulled out the key to the navigation room, and locked it from the inside before pocketing the key again. He’d much rather take his chances facing off against this mermaid on his own rather than giving her the opportunity to race up to his deck and harm anyone else. Although, considering how volatile this creature was, Adrien wasn’t feeling too optimistic about his chances. Best thing to do was to keep her calm and figure a way out of this without being made into a meal.

“How about we start with names?” Adrien suggested.

“Adrien Agreste,” the mermaid finished. “You’re from the Northern Islands, probably one of the port towns judging from your accent. I believe this ship of yours is called the Chat Noir. You’re a pirate. Men of the sea speak highly of you.”

“Well,” he smirked. “Good to know I have a reputation. I wasn’t expecting a mermaid to be privy to that.”

“We don’t enjoy humans as anything other than a meal, but we do hear stories,” the mermaid explained. “You must be skilled.”

“You flatter me,” he winked. “Do you have a name, my Lady?”

She sighed out roughly through her nose, as if debating whether or not to share the information. “Marinette,” she replied finally. “And I’m not your Lady. I’m one of the most dangerous mermaids you’ll ever come across on these seas. You’ll treat me with respect.”

Adrien laughed. “So dangerous that you were caught in a measly fisherman’s net?”

“Oh, how cute,” Marinette teased. “You actually think you went and tricked me.”

“I was the one who pulled it off,” Adrien said. “You seemed plenty enamoured with your reflection and all the pretty little jewels I left there for you. Or was I imagining your preening?”

Marinette’s cheeks flushed in parts anger and embarrassment and Adrien let his chest fill with pride at the petty dig. At least there were some things about mermaids that were still true.

“Minor detail,” Marinette insisted, her voice coming out with a bite. “Rest assured, you caught me in your net because I _let_ you.”

“Oh, this should be good,” Adrien said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the door. “Why would a mermaid want to be captured in a sailor’s net?”

Marinette lifted her chin. “You have something I need.”

Adrien raised a brow. “I’m sure you have treasures far more valuable than anything I have. Try again.”

“Statement stands,” Marinette shrugged, moving over to the wall of maps that Adrien kept rolled up in slots along the wall. Her fingers started brushing over the labels before she turned to look at him over her shoulder. “May I?”

“No!” he barked. “Those are valuable.”

Marinette shrugged. “Oh, calm down, I’m not going to do anything to them. But I heard rumors that you came across one map in particular that I’ve been searching after for months.”

“I come across a lot of maps. You’ll have to be more specific.”

Marinette pulled a map out of its slot, unrolled it, and appraised it quickly before rolling it back up and putting it back. “How much do you know about Miraculous Cove, human?”

Adrien shook his head. “It’s….a folktale at best. Some brilliant story that mothers tell their children before bed.”

“It's hardly a folktale. It's very much real,” Marinette continued. “That cove holds the entrance to a labyrinth of caves found on the Eastern Seas that are imbued with a kind of magic you couldn’t even begin to fathom.”

“Magic?” Adrien snorted. “No such thing.”

Marinette glared at him. “Oh and I suppose I was swimming around in a fish costume and quickly slipped myself out of it to reveal these lovely legs of mine.”

He snapped his mouth shut. “Touché.”

“They’re thousands of years old, and it was said that warriors travelled for years to reach those caves and gain immense strength and knowledge to aid them in their battles. But eventually, humans began to abuse the powers of Miraculous Cove, and the gods and goddesses who watched over the cove felt it necessary to keep anything like that from happening again. So they concealed the cove from humans, pulled all the magic from within those caves, and sealed them within seven — ”

“Seven stones which were then called the Miraculous Stones,” Adrien finished. “They were scattered across the seven seas to locations unknown so that humans would never be able to abuse their powers. If found and collected and brought back to the cove, the magic would be restored and anyone could gain unimaginable power. Yeah, I’ve heard this before. You’re telling me this is actually real?”

“Quite,” Marinette said distractedly, scrutinizing another map before returning it to its slot. “As I understand it there’s a pesky pirate on these seas that’s dead set on finding all of these stones. Eagle something or other….”

Adrien frowned. “Hawkmoth.”

“That’s the one!”

“Wait a minute,” Adrien said. “You’re telling me Hawkmoth is looking for Miraculous stones? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“You’re certainly right,” Marinette agreed. “You can’t do anything with the stones if you can’t find the cove. He’s an idiot. Seems to be a common theme amongst your species.”

“The Miraculous stones don’t exist!” Adrien exclaimed. “What on Earth are you even talking about?”

Marinette rolled her eyes, reached into the pocket of the captain’s coat she was wearing, and pulled out what looked to be a pair of ruby earrings strung on a golden chain. “You’re looking at one right now.”

Adrien scoffed. “A pair of earrings. How cute. I could buy ones similar at a port town for the half the price of a hard cider.”

Marinette grinned, looked around the room, and found a pair of glasses lying on the table that were cracked and mangled. “Yours?” she asked.

“My first mate’s,” Adrien answered. “He broke them a few weeks back before we got him a new pair. What’s your point?”

She clutched the earrings in her hand and held up the ruined glasses. “Then perhaps a demonstration is in order.”

Suddenly, the ordinary looking ruby earrings slowly began to glow in her hands, emanating an inexplicably bright red light. Adrien reached up to rub his eyes to make sure they weren’t playing tricks on him, but the earrings were in fact glowing, and so were the glasses that Marinette was holding. Adrien felt his jaw drop when he saw the bent frames of the glasses slowly start to straighten. The cracks in the lenses started to retreat and mend themselves, and the glass seemed to mold itself to fill all the holes created by the missing shards of glass that were lost when they were initially broken. Marinette released her grip on the stones and the glowing lights immediately ceased. She turned the glasses around in her hands and tossed them to Adrien. “They should be right as rain now.”

Adrien unfolded the glasses and peered through the frames. They were just as new as the day Nino had originally bought them. “What on God’s green Earth — ”

“This is the Ladybug Miraculous,” Marinette explained. “Its powers are good fortune and creation. They’re decent if you need a spot of good luck, but more importantly they’re useful for reversing any damage. It’s one of the most powerful stones, second only to the Cat Miraculous.”

“And what does that one do?”

“Its powers are in bad fortune and destruction. The exact opposite of the Ladybug Miraculous. I believe it’s in the form of a black ring with a green jewel.”

Adrien paused. “Wait. A black ring?”

“Yes.”

“Does it have markings on it?” Adrien asked quickly. “Engraved on the side. Cats. All the way around the band.”

Marinette turned to him in shock. “You’re telling me you’ve seen it?”

“I have it.” He shook his head. “W-Well. Used to have it. It was stolen from me.”

“Let me guess,” Marinette sighed. “This Hawkmoth character?”

Adrien gestured to Marinette. “The plan was to sell you for cash to buy a boat to get to the Eastern Isles to go after him and get it back. You ruined that rather thoroughly, thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome,” Marinette spat. “He probably thinks he can find the rest of them in the Eastern Seas. Or maybe he’s looking for Miraculous Cove. Either way, it does us no good for him to collect all of them.”

“Can he….do what you just did?”

“If he knew how to use it? Unfortunately, yes,” Marinette admitted. “Hopefully I’ll be able to get to him before that happens.” Her eyes brightened when she found the map she was looking for and pulled it from the shelf. “Here we are!”

“That’s a map I pulled from a nothing town down South,” Adrien frowned. “It’s got almost nothing on it. I don’t know where in the seas that is.”

“That’s because it’s purposefully hiding something from you. You need a Miraculous stone to be able to read it. With the Ladybug Miraculous I should be able to….” She clutched the stones again, and brushed her hand over the map, closing her eyes and creasing her forehead in concentration. Suddenly the lines on the map started moving and forming to create islands, notes, markings, and arrows pointed all over the map.

Adrien leaned over the map on the other side of the table and watched in awe as the map morphed itself into a detailed layout of the Eastern Seas. “This is ridiculous….” he breathed out.

Marinette pointed to a point on the map that was circled in what looked to be multicolored ink that seemed only possible through some form of magic. “This is where I need to go. There’s someone here who knows the secret to Miraculous Cove. They might also know the location of the other stones. Rumor has it that his family was entrusted with the information thousands of years ago by the gods and goddesses that originally looked over the cove and has been sworn to secrecy to this day.”

“Where _you_ need to go?” Adrien frowned. “Wait a minute, hold on a sec. Why is this _your_ mission? Why do you have a stone to begin with?”

“I imagine that ring of yours has been with your family for a long time?”

“Family heirloom.”

“Same with my family,” Marinette said. “These stones have been with us since they were created. When it was spread to the seven seas it was given to my family to watch over and ensure that it didn’t get into the wrong hands, just like the Cat Miraculous was given to another family to watch over until it eventually passed down to you. Great job at taking care of it, by the way. Now it’s in the hands of an egomaniac.”

“Hey that’s not my fault!” Adrien demanded. “He ambushed my ship! I want it back just as badly as you do. Besides, you haven’t answered my question. Why are you trying to go after Hawkmoth so badly? Shouldn’t getting all these stones back and stopping him be the job of that person you were talking about? The one in charge of holding all these secrets?”

“I’m not going to sit around and wait for that to happen,” Marinette insisted. “No one back home seems to think that a human is capable of collecting all the stones or causing any real damage, but I know better. You humans are a selfish lot. I have no doubt he’d cause immense amounts of damage with these stones. So I’m taking matters into my own hands.”

Adrien was silent for a moment and tried to let all this information process. “Wait a minute. You knew who I was….”

“Excuse me?”

“You knew exactly who I was when you saw me!” Adrien exclaimed. “You knew I had that map! That’s why you let me capture you, you wanted on my ship to get that map for yourself.”

Marinette smirked. “Look at you. You’re not so dull after all. Like I said, sailors love to tell stories. I’ve been tracking that map for close to a year, and I finally found out that Captain Agreste of the Chat Noir was the last one to have his hands on it. Running into you here was pure luck.” She pocketed the Ladybug Miraculous with a smile. “These things really are a wonder.”

“So what?” Adrien snorted. “You’re just going to make off with my map? I don’t think so.”

“Are you going to stop me?”

“Let’s put it this way,” Adrien explained. “Seems we share a common goal. We’re both hunting down Hawkmoth. Seems to me like it’s smarter to travel on my ship with a large crew of men rather than go at it alone. Besides, what are you planning on doing when you find him? He’s got a crew much bigger than mine. Pretending to get captured is only going to work once, you know.”

Marinette gritted her teeth. “I have friends I could call!”

“Unless it’s an army, you’re out of your element, _my Lady_ ,” he teased. “Besides, nothing’s stopping me from throwing you back into the ocean and harpooning you for a fortune. I still need that ship.”

Marinette rounded the table and came face to face with him, her nose only coming to his collarbone but still making up for the height difference with a snarl that admittedly made the hair on his arms stand on end. “Don’t forget that I can kill you right now, you brute!”

“I already told you what would happen to you if you did that,” Adrien explained.

“And you don’t think _I_ don’t have friends who wouldn’t be happy to sink your ship and drown your crew?” Marinette replied. “Don’t underestimate me.”

“Well, all that means is that it’s in our best interests to keep each other alive.”

Marinette looked like she was about to open her mouth to protest, but Adrien knew that he had a point. If he was being honest, he was still convinced that he was dreaming and that all of this talk about mermaids who could sprout legs, gods and goddesses, and stones that apparently possessed unimaginable amounts of magic was proof he drowned when he jumped into the ocean earlier. But if all of this was true, then it seemed like it was all the more important to steal back what was his and make sure that Hawkmoth knew not to mess with Captain Agreste and his crew. Plus, it seemed like this was a lot bigger than just getting back what belonged to him.

He’d run into Hawkmoth a few times, and he was a ridiculously annoying pirate with an ego larger than the seven seas and a desire to be the most feared pirate for miles. Adrien never took him seriously, but this was way beyond what he thought Hawkmoth was capable of. Most of this talk of magic was beyond him, but Adrien at least understood one thing: there was no way he was going to let Hawkmoth get away with trying to steal more of what wasn’t his like he had any rights to it. More than anything, Adrien was interested in knocking Hawkmoth down a few pegs.

“So you’re telling me,” Adrien continued, “that if Hawkmoth gets his hands on all these stones, he could get his hands on unimaginable power?”

“Exactly,” Marinette replied. “I’m sure you have a pretty good sense of this man’s personality. I’m guessing that something like this wouldn’t be used for good.”

Adrien rolled his eyes. “No, you’re right. He’s an egomaniac. If you’re being serious about this, there’s no telling what he’d do with it.”

Marinette closed her eyes and sighed. “As much as it kills me to say this, it seems like we’re both better off if we work together.”

Adrien grinned wolfishly. “Well, now that you mention it, I _have_ been itching for a good adventure. It’s been a slow few weeks.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Typical pirate.” She straightened her shoulders and held out her hand. “Fine. I won’t kill you and will agree to travel with you if you promise not to kill me.”

“And I won’t kill you and will agree to help you with this….ridiculous and frankly completely insane plan of yours if you promise not to kill me or anymore of my men. I’ve got a personal interest in seeing Hawkmoth eat sand if I’m being completely honest. The man’s a damn parasite.”

They met in the middle and shook hands, a gentleman’s agreement. “Well, Adrien Agreste, this was definitely not according to plan. I was just going to eat you and take the map.”

“Calm down there, my Lady. A promise is a promise.”

“I said I’d behave,” Marinette muttered. “And….if it’s worth anything….I suppose I apologize for eating your men.”

“You’re not sorry you ate them, you’re sorry you were caught.”

Marinette grinned. “You said it, not me.”

Adrien massaged his temples. “Look, you’re gonna face some pretty pissed off and distrustful pirates up there. The fact that I’m letting you stay with us after that stunt you pulled is already grounds for me to lose my head. I’ll admit, it was my fault for sending them down here alone to deal with you, but don’t make me regret trusting you.”

“I already said I’ll be on my best behavior,” Marinette said, laying a hand over her heart. “Now if you’re serious about helping me, then might I suggest following through with your original intentions first and getting the Cat Miraculous back. I have a feeling it'll be useful for us to have it in our possession before we do anything else. Then we can go follow this map and learn more.”

“You know I’m game to get my ring back,” Adrien agreed. He walked over to the navigation table, pulled out a chair and straddled the back of it. “However, I’ve got one last bone to pick with you.”

“And what’s that, human?”

Adrien held up a hand. “Listen. If you’re going to be bunking here, it’s either Captain or Adrien.”

Marinette huffed. “Fine. _Adrien_. What is it?”

“Well since I’ve stupidly agreed to _not_ kill you and sell you for a ridiculous fortune, that leaves me short on cash to buy a new ship and a bigger crew which we’re going to need unless you’re interested in turning going after Hawkmoth into a suicide mission. So how do you suppose we get around that?”

Marinette crossed her arms and sighed. “I _guess_ ….if you needed gold….you could follow me back to my home so that I can look through my vaults. It’s only a day’s journey from here.”

Adrien sat up straight. “Vaults?”

“What did you think we did with all the treasure aboard all those ships we sink?” Marinette asked. “I’m willing to part with some of it if it means stopping Hawkmoth.”

Adrien suddenly felt himself grow giddy, already imagining the goddamn _gorgeous_ ship he’d be able to buy with the conquests of an actual mermaid who’d probably caused countless shipwrecks. His hands were already itching to smooth his hands over the fresh, polished wood of the wheel. “My Lady, that is the most beautiful thing you’ve said to me all day.”


	2. Due Respect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am trying to do as much research on appropriate ship terms and proper protocol as possible, but if you note any mistakes, don't hesitate to let me know so i can fix it :)

“Is this altogether necessary?”

Adrien shrugged as he leaned against the rail of the ship and kept picking the dirt out from under his fingernails with his knife. “I don’t know. I’m not the one who cannibalized my crewmembers and insisted on catching a ride after you finished picking your teeth clean.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “I’m not human, so it’s not technically cannibalism.”

“I’m not here to debate semantics with you, my Lady. I’m only here to make sure you don’t cause a fuss.”

“Surely you’ll admit that all of this showmanship is overkill, won’t you?”

Adrien tipped his head in thought. “I dunno. Nino, what do you think?”

Nino cocked the pistol he had pointed directly at Marinette’s head, his gaze stern but wary. “I’m perfectly comfortable, captain. Ivan?”

Ivan had his sword drawn and kept it pressed directly against the hollow of Marinette’s throat, ready to thrust it forward and plunge it into her neck should the need arise. “Feeling great.”

Marinette snarled and struggled against the ropes that were keeping her tightly bound to the mast of the ship. “This is ridiculous, there’s no need for this! I already promised you that you and your crew would be safe.”

“And I appreciate the promise from the bottom of my heart,” Adrien swore. “But my crew isn’t convinced of your willingness to spare their lives, and they would feel much better if they could keep an eye on you until you’ve proven them otherwise. You don’t seem like the type of person that follows directions easily.”

Marinette raised a brow and smirked cruelly. “Does that intimidate you?”

“On the contrary, I find that incredibly admirable,” Adrien chuckled. “Unfortunately, it works against me in this situation since it doesn’t help paint you as a particularly trustworthy person. Hence the ropes, the guns, and the swords. I hope you understand.”

“How flattering,” Marinette deadpanned. “Are we there yet?”

Adrien turned and shouted towards the stern of the ship. “Nathanael! Are we close to this island yet?”

Nathanael kept Max at the wheel while he climbed up on the rails and peered through his spyglass. “Nothing yet, captain. But we followed her directions to the letter so I’m assuming we’ll be seeing something soon.”

“Shout when you spot it!” Adrien called back. He pushed off the rail, slipped his knife back into the holster on his sleeve and paced in front of the mermaid. “So what do the homes of mermaids look like?” he asked. “In storybooks, they always made it sound like they were dazzling palaces carved out of reefs, close enough to the surface where sunlight could still carve through the water and illuminate everything until it was like staring at a colorful, sparkling city.”

Marinette laughed. “That sounds incredibly romanticized. I’m sure those same books told you we were friendly creatures who sat on rocks and brushed our hair and waved to sailors as they passed.”

Adrien pursed his lips and looked away. “So I’m guessing that’s a no.”

“Mermaids don’t like humans very much save for when we need to eat them, so we tend to seclude ourselves,” Marinette smirked. “Some of us live deep at the bottom of the ocean where there’s barely any light. Others live in the middle of swamps and marshes because they like the brackish water and love preying on the poor farmers who try to drain their homes. There are some who don’t really live anywhere and choose to travel and catch their food whenever it happens to come along. It all depends really.”

“So where do you live?”

“Just off the shore of the isle I’m taking you to that’s not charted on your maps,” Marinette explained. “About a hundred meters down there’s a fortress of about several hundred shipwrecks that we’ve commandeered into a home for ourselves. We’ve been living there for a few hundred years with no complaints.” 

“Really?” Adrien asked. “Surely sailors would’ve found that isle or even noticed hundreds of shipwrecks happening in that part of the sea in all that time.” 

“Of course,” Marinette shrugged. “But I feel like you severely underestimate how completely unmatched a ship is against a battalion of a hundred mermaids armed with claws, teeth, and stolen swords plucked from said shipwrecks. A stray ship wandering too close to home is hardly a reason to be wary. If anything, people start polishing their scales and putting on their best jewelry in preparation for a feast.” 

Nino snarled and pressed the barrel of his gun directly against Marinette’s head. “And you’re leading us straight into that!?”

“Get that ridiculous piece of machinery off of me!” Marinette snapped. “You humans are pathetically paranoid. If your navigator does exactly as I say you won’t have to worry about my kind seeing you.”

Adrien waved his hand to the side. “Nino. Let up a bit. She’s our guest and we promised no harm would come to her.”

“ _ You _ promised that,” Nino corrected. “She has yet to convince the rest of us that she deserves to stay on this ship.”

Adrien crouched down in front of her and stared at Marinette as he spoke. “She knows the rules. When she brings me that gold, I’ll know she’s serious. Then these pesky ropes and weapons will go away.” 

Marinette smiled with all her teeth, but made it look thoroughly threatening. “Don’t get too comfortable, captain. I’m only humoring this nonsense because it gets us to Hawkmoth faster. I’ve already told you not to underestimate me.”

Adrien tilted his head. “I don’t underestimate you, my Lady. I wouldn’t have tied you up like this if I did.”

“I’m not some asset of yours that you can treat like a prisoner so that you can get what you want. We’ve agreed to help each other and I expect to be treated like your equal.”

“There is no one  _ equal _ to me on the Chat Noir,” Adrien glared. “To suggest otherwise would sort of defeat the purpose of my being the captain, now wouldn’t it?”

“You said it yourself. We made an agreement as equals which makes us partners. Reluctant partners but partners nonetheless. I don’t care about renegotiating your title. I care about treating me with some modicum of respect and consideration.”

“You’ve a lot of nerve demanding respect from me,” Adrien scowled. “Not only is it horribly presumptuous of you, but it’s decidedly stupid. You have no authority here. Besides, is all your big talk supposed to scare me? Take away your sword and tie you down and you’re no more intimidating than a regular human.”

Marinette chuckled. “You haven’t even begun to understand how dangerous I can be.”

“Oh haven’t I?” Adrien leered. He leaned closer to Marinette until their noses were only inches apart. He leaned over and hooked a finger into the rope tied around her, tugging at it playfully. “Because you don’t look very dangerous at the moment.” 

Marinette leaned forward slowly until her forehead was touching Adrien’s and her steely glare was impossible to ignore. “Tell your first mate to get his  _ fucking gun _ off of me!”

Adrien leaned back sharply, seeing hints of her mermaid teeth peeking out from between her lips, and stood back on his feet. “Nino, pull the gun back,” he instructed gruffly. “Before she bites someone’s hand off.”

Nino rolled his eyes, but followed orders as Adrien put his captain’s hat back on and headed towards Nathanael who was at the helm. “You’re toeing a dangerous line, my Lady. When you’re on my ship, you’re a part of my crew. And when you’re a part of my crew, you earn your keep. Until you do that, you better watch yourself. You aren’t in any position to be demanding anything of me.” 

Marinette dipped her head and laughed. “Ah, Adrien. Enjoy your little power trip while it lasts. It’s adorable.” 

They sailed for about half an hour more until Nathanael had spotted the sandy isle from the crow’s nest. It was extremely small, no more than a mile long if Adrien had to guess, and save for a few palm trees and sparse patches of grass clustered in the middle there wasn’t much on the island to speak of. But the moment Nathanael had confirmed that they had arrived, Marinette quickly instructed them to drop anchor and to go no further for fear of the mermaids nearby spotting them in the water and ambushing them. The sun was low on the horizon and it was beginning to get too dark to see on the deck, but Marinette told them to keep their lanterns off until she came back just in case. At night, mermaids loved to poke their heads out of the water and try to catch an unaware ship by surprise. 

Adrien instructed all his men to stay quiet while he and Nino untied Marinette from the mast and walked her towards the plank on the side of the ship. “How much time are you going to need to get what we need?” he asked her. 

“No more than two hours,” Marinette responded. “Although I’d remain vigilant while I’m gone if I were you. You’re a ways off from where anyone can easily see you, but that doesn’t mean that you’re not still close enough to be in a risky position.” 

Nino scoffed. “Wonderful. Sitting ducks lying in wait for an army of mermaids to come and devour us.”

“You wanted my gold,” Marinette reminded.

Adrien finished pulling the ropes off her arms and let Marinette walk barefoot to the edge of the plank. “Alright. I’m timing you. Two hours. Longer than that and I’ll assume you were pulling a fast one on me and we’re out of here.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back in time,” Marinette promised, rolling out the kinks in her neck. She reached down and started to unbutton the captain’s coat she was still wearing. “Will two satchels full be enough?”

“I imagine so,” Adrien said. “Although if you’re compelled to grab more, then by all means.”

“Please, as if I’d ever willingly give you more of my beautiful gold than was necessary,” Marinette scowled. “The fact that I’m even doing this much for you is an affront to my species.”

“Your sacrifice is appreciated,” Adrien grinned. “Have fun diving for gold, my Lady.”

Marinette shrugged the coat off her shoulders. “Hold this. And try not to peek.” She tossed it behind her so that it landed on Adrien’s head and only just managed to hear the gasps and chokes from the crew members behind her before she wrapped the chain with the Ladybug Miraculous around her wrist and dove into the water. 

Returning to the ocean after Land Walking always felt like a homecoming. The moment her body was completely submerged, Marinette felt every cell in her body hum with satisfaction and send a pleasant shiver down her spine as her scales started sprouting from beneath her skin. Her gills started coming in on the sides of her neck and the refreshing inhale of salty seawater made her laugh while her nails and teeth elongated and sharpened. She experimentally ran her hands through her hair — loving the way it floated and curled in the water and didn’t hang limply like it did on land — and kicked around the water in circles until her legs had finished fusing and her tail was fully formed. 

Marinette was more lethal in water — could swim faster, could see further, could enchant drowned sailors with a voice that only ever sounded beautiful when submerged. She knew she was deadly, so much so that even everyone back at home knew that she was one of the last mermaids you ever wanted to get into a fight with. It made her feel powerful and beautiful, and admittedly instilled in her a type of cockiness that continuously reminded her just how frightening she could be. Of course all mermaids at the end of the day were horribly vain creatures who would probably fall in love with themselves if placed in front of a mirror for too long, but Marinette worked hard to prove to others that it was foolish to think her weak or incapable. 

So to be stuck on a ship with revolting pirates who thought it funny to treat her like a captive and pretend like they had any power or say over her was about the most maddening thing that Marinette had ever had to subject herself to. She was weaker on land, pure and simple. No amount of mastery over her sword could mask that fact. Which meant if she was going to have any sort of leverage in this reluctant deal she’d somehow fallen into with that damned pirate, she needed a bit more muscle on her side.

When Marinette was first born, she wandered around the seas on her own for a few years before stumbling upon what could only be described as an impenetrable fortress of sunken ships inhabited by two hundred or so mermaids led only by the three oldest mermaids in the community who had spent close to fifty years building their fortress from the ground up. There weren’t many rules, and Marinette was free to come and go as she pleased while knowing that her room and her vaults of treasure would always be there for her whenever she decided to return. The only downside was that their makeshift family was rather small, and gossip spread quickly. So while it was likely that most everyone would be asleep and unaware of Marinette’s lurking, she made sure to swim close to the sand and sneak inside through the lower ships to make sure she wasn’t seen by anyone who would try and question her about her unusual behavior at this late hour. After all, mermaids were hoarders who were usually seen filling their vaults, not emptying them. 

All of the vaults were kept in the most secured and most central part of the fortress. Marinette’s was merely a refashioned dining room on a small luxury ship that had no doubt belonged to a rich family from up North. After stopping by her room to fetch the key that she kept hidden under the floorboards, she quietly unlocked the door to her vault and carefully eased it open so as to prevent the old wooden door from creaking and slamming against the wall. The first thing she swam for were the strings of pearls, golden bangles, silver necklaces, and belts fashioned out of silver coins that she’d left behind for fear of Adrien’s crew taking them for themselves. She put every single one of them on and swam for the large mirror she had hanging on the wall, breathing a sigh of relief and admiring her reflection as she started to feel more like herself. It was hard enough leaving all these baubles behind for only a couple of days. She was truly dreading having to give up any of her belongings in this room — it was awfully hard work to sink and pillage a ship after all. But she tried to think of this sacrifice in the context of what she was trying to accomplish, and the decision was obvious. 

Marinette shut her eyes, reluctantly pulled an old satchel from a nail on the wall, and whined as she started shoveling handfuls of gold coins. 

“Stupid pirates,” Marinette grumbled to herself. “Stupid captain. This is ridiculous, I can’t believe I’m doing this.” If she was going to be a stickler for details, their agreement said that Marinette wouldn’t kill Adrien’s crew. They’d said nothing about non lethal physical harm, and Marinette had half a mind to punch that captain in the face for making her have to resort to this. 

In the middle of digging through a particularly large pile of coins in the corner of the room, Marinette gasped and pulled out an old sword that she’d completely forgotten she’d owned. It was a ridiculously valuable steel sword with a grip made of jade and a scabbard and hilt encrusted with emeralds, diamonds, and pearls. She really only took it because it was pretty to look at since the dull, rusted blade made it pretty much useless as a weapon. But her Miraculous stone could surely take care of that, and it would be useful to stock up on weapons if she was going to be seafaring with pirates for the foreseeable future. Marinette shrugged, clipped the scabbard to her belt, and dove into an old armoire in the middle of the room filled with daggers that might come in handy as well. 

“Planning on dueling someone on the beach at sunrise?”

Marinette whirled around in surprise and instinctively brought her claws up in preparation for a fight, but she immediately dropped it and glared at the intruder who was smirking and leaning against the opening of her vault. “You idiot,” she snarled. “You scared the hell out of me.”

Chloe chuckled and continued to lazily braid a thin gold chain into her locks of blonde hair. “Someone’s a little jumpy today. Get too close to a fisherman’s hook or something?”

“Or something….” Marinette muttered. “What are you doing up anyway, it’s the middle of the night.”

“I could say the same to you,” Chloe glared. Despite Marinette’s protests, she took it upon herself to swim inside the vault and sit atop a rotted wooden vanity pushed into the corner as if she’d been welcomed here a thousand times before. She rolled her shoulders back and lifted her tail to admire her glimmering golden scales as she spoke. “Just came back from hunting. Get this. I found a couple stuck in a longboat in the middle of the sea after a storm sunk their ship. Ah, I feel like I’ll be full for days,” she giggled. Chloe lifted her chin and showed off a new pendant with a sapphire dangling from the end. “And look! The wife had a box full of  _ gorgeous _ jewelry!”

“Not bad,” Marinette smirked. “Although I keep telling you that blue isn’t your color.”

“Brat,” Chloe grumbled. “At least I did something productive today. What’s your story?”

“I’m….coming back from a hunt too.”

“Uh huh,” Chloe smiled. “After which it’s completely logical to scurry off to your vault in the middle of the night and go out of your mind filling up bags with gold.”

“Who said that’s what I was doing?”

Chloe held up a hand. “Save it, darling. I’ve been watching you for at least five minutes.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Does privacy mean nothing to you?”

“What? Our vaults are right next to each other. I was dropping off my things and I happened to hear you rummaging about. You look like you’re in a bit of a rush. Something scandalous I should know about?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, you insufferable little gossip.”

“Excuse you. I am not a gossip. I’m  _ nosy _ ,” Chloe corrected. “You’ll respect me by insulting me properly.”

“Don’t make me great creative,” Marinette deadpanned. “Now will you get out? I’m busy.”

“I’d be happy to leave and mind my own business in exchange for one of those little rucksacks of gold you’re so frantically collecting. And I’d very much love that sword you’re carrying while you’re being generous.” 

Marinette swam over and smacked her on the back of her head. “Out. Now. And get off my vanity, I just dragged that back here a couple of days ago.”

“You brute!” Chloe shrieked. “Fine! I’ll go! Honestly, something must seriously be the matter with you because you’re acting — ” She paused in the middle of her sentence, eyes blown wide, and pointed to Marinette’s wrist. “What are those?”

Marinette looked at her wrist, blinked, and quickly hid it behind her back. “Nothing.”

Chloe swam closer to her, expression grave. “Marinette, show me your hand.”

“Look, it’s none of your business,” Marinette defended. “I already said to get out.”

Chloe reached around Marinette and tried to snatch her wrist. “Let me see!”

“Get off of me, you maniac, I don’t have time to humor you right now.”

But as much as Marinette love to lord it over Chloe how much stronger she was than her, Chloe was admittedly the faster of the two. So while Marinette tried backing up against the wall to make sure that Chloe couldn’t reach behind her, Chloe was already bracing her hands on Marinette’s shoulders, swimming over her head, and pulling her wrist up to her face before Marinette could manage to push her off. Chloe’s entire body grew rigid as she twisted Marinette’s wrist around and struggled to find her words. “Oh my God…”

Marinette shoved Chloe back and held up a finger in warning. “Chloe….shut up.”

“Oh my God,  _ oh _ my God, you’re crazy!” Chloe exclaimed. “Why do you have the Ladybug Miraculous?”

Marinette moved in front of Chloe’s face and covered her mouth with her hand. “I’m deathly serious. Shut up. Someone might hear you.”

Chloe smacked her hand away. “They could kill you over this!” she hissed. “You got those from the Main Vault. The  _ Elders’ _ vault. You’re not even supposed to be able to have access to that let alone take things out of it without their permission. How did you even get these?”

“Well, during our last feast everyone was so distracted, no one was guarding the Main Vault,” Marinette shrugged. “All of the Vault Keepers were eating with everyone else and it was easy to snag the keys, sneak in, and grab the Miraculous before anyone saw me. That was two weeks ago and no one’s even noticed.”

“You are certifiably insane I can’t believe I choose to associate with you,” Chloe said, pressing her fingers to her temples. “What are you doing with those?”

Marinette smiled. “I needed them to find the Master’s Map.”

Chloe furrowed her brows and shook her head. “Wait a minute. You don’t mean  _ the _ Master’s Map. The map that’s meant to lead to the original secret keepers entrusted by the gods from Miraculous Cove?” 

“That’s the one.”

Chloe shook her head with a smirk. “No. Nice try. That map was lost at sea like six hundred and something years ago. Elders said so themselves. You’re full of it.”

Marinette lifted her wrist with the Ladybug Miraculous still wrapped around it. “If you wish for something hard enough — if you want it hard enough — these stones bring it straight to you. Literally like magic. After I took them, I went Land Walking at the nearest port and heard about a man named Adrien Agreste who captained a ship called the Chat Noir who raised hell with a black market dealer down South over a map that no one could read. It was a hunch, but my hunch was right. And these stones helped me find his ship.”

“Hold on a second,” Chloe interrupted, laughing in disbelief. “Tell me you did not board this pirate’s ship to steal a map off a  _ hunch _ .”

“Are you at all surprised?” Marinette complained. “Besides, it all worked out. I told you I found it.”

“And you’re sure that’s the map.”

“I looked at it myself,” Marinette promised. “Unreadable map made readable only by a Miraculous Stone. Just like the legends said. It’s real.”

Chloe shut her eyes and visibly looked like she was reigning in the last of her patience. “Oh, there’s more. I can already tell there’s more.”

“Not only did he have the map, but he used to have the Cat Miraculous before that horrid pirate who’s trying to collect all the stones stole it from him.”

“Wait, you’ve mentioned him before,” Chloe said. “Hawkmoth, was it?”

“Yes. Apparently Hawkmoth is looking for something in the Eastern Seas. Miraculous Cove is hidden somewhere in the Eastern Seas. If I can find Hawkmoth and then follow this Master’s Map to the secret keeper who knows where the rest of the Miraculous Stones are, I can secure them all and make sure no one will be able to abuse them.”

“So what you’re packing up all the gold you have and going after this human  _ by yourself? _ ”

Marinette stared down at her fins. “Not by myself. I….have some help.”

“Oh yeah? Who?”

Marinette scratched the back of her head, turned around, and kept filling up her satchels with gold, leaving the question hanging. But Chloe quickly picked up on the unsaid and gripped her hair with both hands in frustration. “You made deals with pirates! You’re working with pirates! By the seven seas, you’re fucking senile!”

“It wasn’t my first, second, or twentieth choice,” Marinette snapped. “But I can’t do this alone and Captain Agreste has a personal interest in going after Hawkmoth as well. We share a common goal. All we need is money for a bigger ship and a bigger crew and we can go out—”

“ _ That’s _ why you’re collecting all this gold? To buy a pirate a ship?” Chloe covered her face with her hands and groaned. “We are mermaids, darling. Humans are useful to mermaids for only one reason: food! Meat! Sustenance! We do not amicably associate with them.”

“Trust me I’m thoroughly aware,” Marinette said sarcastically, looking at Chloe over her shoulder. “But this is important. I can’t just let an opportunity like this slip by.”

The Elders had told everyone within the fortress about the legend surrounding the Miraculous Stones and how important it was to keep the Ladybug Miraculous safe. For most it was an exciting and thrilling tale whispered about underneath seaweed blankets at night, and it had been that for Marinette in the beginning as well. But spending time on land and hearing sailors rumors about a man who was blindly in search of these fabled Miraculous Stones suddenly instilled in Marinete a sense of duty to not only protect what had been entrusted to them but to prevent selfish humans from repeating the mistakes of their past. 

Unfortunately, approaching the Elders in front of their entire community with talk about Hawkmoth, finding the Master’s Map, and locating the rest of the stones before anyone else did turned out to be a rather useless endeavor. Not a single soul in the entire fortress took it seriously. No one believed a human could manage to find all the stones and pose a threat to the world when nothing of the sort had happened since the stones were created thousands of years ago, and getting involved in the affairs of humans wasn’t something most mermaids prioritized. But Marinette wasn’t most mermaids. Being a Land Walker allowed her a privilege that even the Elders did not have — the ability to walk amongst humans and get to see how selfish, greedy, and gluttonous they truly were. Hawkmoth was a threat, and Marinette refused to hear otherwise. 

“This is truly a new level of reckless for you,” Chloe scolded. “You are going to get in so much trouble. They’re going to punish you for this. They’re going to punish  _ me _ for this for even knowing.” She paused and darted her eyes towards Marinette. “Wait a minute….why are you telling me all this?”

“Aside from the fact that you literally jumped me for an explanation?”

“Yes, aside from that fact.”

Marinette tied off the two satchels of gold and slung them over her shoulders. “I need you to cover for me.”

Chloe pressed a hand to her chest. “I’m sorry. Repeat that?”

“If the Elders find out that the Ladybug Miraculous is gone, it’s not going to take them long to suspect that I was up to something. If they start asking about me or asking about the Miraculous Stone, I need you to keep the heat off me.”

“ _ No!I _ ” Chloe exclaimed, holding her arms in an ‘x’. “Ridiculous. Absolutely not. I am not lying for you.”

Marinette sucked her teeth. “Why not? We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“We are  _ not  _ friends! Do you remember the last time we went hunting together?”

Marinette bit her bottom lip and turned her gaze to the ceiling. “I’ve….conveniently forgotten.” 

“You tricked me and led me straight into a frenzy of sharks so that you could go ahead and kill those islanders for yourself! I almost died!”

“It was a  _ joke _ ,” Marinette sighed. “I knew you weren’t going to die. You handled yourself just fine. Besides, why aren’t we talking about the time that you barricaded me in my own room so that you could go and raid a shipwreck without me and steal all of the gold in there for yourself?”

“Oh get over it, that happened thirty years ago.”

“Alright! Fine! We’re nightmares towards each other. I have no right to ask you for a favor. But I’m going to ask you for one anyway,” Marinette begged. “Please. Just don’t tell anyone anything and cover for me as best you can.”

Chloe pursed her lips and placed her hands on her hips. “I am not willingly subjecting myself to punishment on your behalf when the Elders find out that I was lying for you. I don’t love anyone that much.”

Marinette withered at the declaration. “Chloe….”

“Nope! I don’t want to hear it.” Chloe searched through her belts of coins and jewels and plucked out a bronze key. “I suppose if you’re arming yourself, I might as well too. I recently found a beautiful sword with a bronze hilt and a mahogany scabbard that I’ve been meaning to clean and sharpen for the longest. Now I have an excuse.”

Marinette squinted. “What are you talking about?”

“Do you think bringing my entire dagger set would be too much?” Chloe pondered, tapping her finger against her pouted lips and ignoring Marinette’s question. “I don’t want to ruin the set by losing one but it makes no sense to only bring part of it.”

“What do you need your weapons for?”

“Oh, well I’m coming with you obviously,” Chloe decided. “I’m just not sure what I should bring….”

Marinette blinked and took a few seconds to respond. “This isn’t a vacation, you wench,” she snarled. “You’re not coming with me.”

Chloe scoffed. “I’ll tell you exactly why I’m coming with you.” She held up four fingers and started to tick them off one by one. “Firstly, I already told you that I am not lying for you. If the Elders come to me asking for information I’m going to tell them the truth. Second, there is absolutely no way my ego is going to allow you to scurry off in search of adventure so you can be lauded as a hero without me tagging along. Third, I’m incredibly bored and it annoys me personally to see you doing something exciting when I have nothing to do.”

Marinette slowly raised a brow. “And your fourth point?”

“I may not like you, but I don’t want to see you get killed either,” Chloe explained. “You travelling with a gaggle of pirates by yourself is dangerous and stupid. At the very least, you should have someone come with you as back up. I’m a Land Walker too, and I’m just as good a swordswoman as you are. I’m the obvious choice.”

“You just don’t want to feel left out,” Marinette deadpanned. 

“I won’t deny that,” Chloe sighed, staring at the ends of her hair for split ends. “But if you’re right, and this Hawkmoth man is as dangerous as you say, then you’re going to need better help than a bunch of clueless pirates. You have to admit, I’d be useful.”

Marinette narrowed her eyes at Chloe’s self-satisfied smirk, but couldn’t in good conscience refute her point. When it came to leverage, having Chloe by her side was the best position Marinette could be in. Their tentative “friendship” resembled more a heated rivalry than anything else, but Chloe and Marinette met in the middle by being the only Land Walkers in the fortress. On nights when everyone was asleep and they were both bored, they’d swim up to the island above their homes with swords in tow and spar with fists and blades until sunrise simply because they could. Marinette had intimate knowledge on how frightfully lethal Chloe could be. Her presence would certainly make Captain Agreste less inclined to cross her. 

Marinette set her jaw. “This isn’t a game,” she insisted. “If you’re going to come with me, then you have to take this seriously.”

“You’re a goody two shoes who just stole the single most valuable treasure that the Elders own. I assumed that this was all rather serious from the beginning.” Chloe paused and allowed her face to soften for a moment. “Look, I was there along with everyone else when you appeared before the Elders to tell them about Hawkmoth. Everyone around me was laughing and saying you were overreacting because as much as they love eating humans, they don’t understand them. We’ve both been walking amongst humans for years, and I know exactly what kind of damage a power-hungry human can cause. And as much as it physically pains me to admit this, you have a right to be wary of this man, and I’m on your side. You have my word.”

Marinette’s chest warmed at Chloe’s words and allowed herself a brief smile. “Thank you,” she breathed out. 

Chloe cleared her throat loudly. “So. Anything else I should know?”

“Well,” Marinette began. “Unfortunately, I also promised these pirates that I wouldn’t kill them. You’ll have to keep to that promise too if we’re going to use their ship.”

“ _ Ugh!” _ Chloe groaned. “That’s abominable!”

“We’ll just hunt elsewhere,” Marinette said. 

“Marinette, that’s impossible. Not even the silly little boys who scrub the decks all day?”

“Promise. Now.”

“Fine,” Chloe said with a forced smile. “No eating the useless humans. I’ll resist the urge. Are there any other rules I should know about?”

Marinette scowled. “I suppose not. Although I do think the captain himself warrants his own warning. He thinks rather highly of himself and doesn’t know enough about mermaids to understand how foolish it is to disrespect them.”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Men. Thinks he can boss you around, does he?”

“It’s physically debilitating not to indulge in the desire to rip his jugular out with my teeth,” Marinette grumbled. 

“Ah, Marinette darling, you always were rather ignorant to the subtleties of instilling in your peers a healthy dose of fear,” Chloe grinned, showing off her sharp, bloodstained teeth. 

Marinette smirked. “If you have ideas on how to snatch back my respect, I’m all ears. I was contemplating it on the swim here.”

Chloe swung her vault key around her finger. “We can discuss it while I pick up a few things for the trip. Although….isn’t it odd that we haven’t seen a decent storm in weeks?”

* * *

 

“You don’t think they can smell us from all the way up here, do you?”

Max rolled his eyes and turned back to the game of liar’s dice he was playing with Ivan and Nathanael atop an old overturned crate. “Kim you’ve been staring at the water for the past half hour. If it hasn’t jumped up to bite you yet, it won’t now.” He jutted his chin towards Nathanael. “Five three’s.”

“I don’t know, I think the water’s  _ breathing _ ,” Kim complained. “See how it’s pulsing and moving like that? I think they’re right underneath us.”

Nathanael peeked underneath his overturned cup at the five die he had hidden and quickly covered them again. “Six five’s,” he announced. “Water doesn’t breathe, Kim. Those are just the waves. You’re being paranoid and distracting us from the game.”

“Listen, you need me to fight a pirate or shoot down a thief, I’m your guy,” Kim grumbled. “I don’t like things that can eat my face and live in the water. I can’t fight the water.”

Nino snorted. “Who ever heard of a pirate who’s scared of the water? That’s like being a pirate who’s terrified of guns.”

“Seven five’s,” Ivan muttered. “I don’t know, I agree with Kim. It’s the teeth and the claws that get me. It’s unnatural seeing her walk around on legs like she’s one of us. Plus, she’s got this shifty look in her eyes. Like she knows something we don’t.”

“To be fair she’s probably hundreds of years old,” Adrien muttered, glaring at the island that in the dark looked like a nondescript, dark mass in the distance. “I’m sure she’s seen things that we can only imagine.” He turned to Nino. “Time check?”

Nino flipped open his pocketwatch. “She’s got ten minutes.”

“Cutting it a little close,” Max snorted. He rubbed his nose and cleared his throat. “Eight six’s.”

Nathanael chuckled and held out his hand. “Liar,” he announced with a smirk. “I’ll have that pistol please.”

Max rolled his eyes and unclipped his gun holster from his hip and handed it over to a smug Nathanael. “It’d be stupid of her to not come back with that gold. We know where her kind lives now. We could easily use that against her.”

“Did you not hear her earlier?” Kim exclaimed. “There are hundreds of them down there. They could kill us in seconds.”

“She’ll bring the gold,” Adrien said confidently. “She cares too much about these Miraculous Stones to not follow through on our deal. She needs a ship as much as we do.”

“Don’t you think it’s weird that she was so docile?” Nino questioned. “I had a gun pointed right at her head and she was more annoyed than she was frightened. When you dragged her up here and told us to tie her up, she complained about it but she didn’t put up a fight. You think she would have at least tried to swipe at us a couple of times.”

“Maybe she knows she’s not that dangerous on land,” Ivan shrugged. “Not worth causing a fuss when we can cut her down right there. Especially when she’s unarmed.”

“She looked too confident for someone who knew she was no match for all of us on this ship,” Nino said shaking his head. “She looked like she was biding her time for something.”

“Biding her time for what?” Max asked. “She must have come alone for a reason.”

“I don’t know,” Nino sighed. “I’ve just got a bad feeling.”

“Look, we’re all on edge because we’re next to a colony of mermaids,” Adrien tried to rationalize. “Rightfully so. She’ll be back with our gold soon, and if she isn’t we’re out of here anyway.”

The rest of the crew started shaking the dice in their cups for another round of liar’s dice when a low rumble of thunder sounded from the West. Nino turned his gaze towards the horizon and frowned when he saw the cloudless sky stretching out before them. “Did you hear that?”

Nathanael got up from his seat and pulled his spyglass out from his pocket, holding it up to his eye as he searched all sides of the ship. “That sounded like thunder, but I don’t see any storm clouds.”

“Canon?” Kim asked. “From a ship nearby?”

“That didn’t sound like canon fire,” Nino said. “That was definitely thunder.”

Max took his glasses off and gaped at the sky directly above him. “Um. Guys. I think you should look up.”

The crew moved to the center of the deck and looked directly above them at the point in the sky that Max was staring at. Adrien pulled his hat off his head and furrowed his brows at the strange formation of clouds swirling in a circle right over their ship without another cloud for miles. The thunder sounded again, very clearly coming from the center of the vortex that had inexplicably formed without anyone realizing it. The sky was growing dark and the wind was beginning to pick up as the circle of clouds started getting wider quicker than Adrien had ever seen before in his life. 

“What the  _ fuck _ is that?” Kim shouted. 

“I have no idea,” Max muttered, blinking against the light drizzle that had suddenly started falling from the sky. “That shouldn’t be possible. Clouds don’t move like that.” 

The next crack of thunder was loud enough to make the entire crew jump in their boots, and almost as if by the command of a higher power, the gentle drizzle had immediately worsened into a steady downpour that was accompanied by strengthening winds smacking against the sails above them. The ship started rocking with the force of the waters being kicked up by the wind, and pretty soon the rest of the crew started running to various parts of the ship and holding onto masts, ropes, and rails to make sure they didn’t lose their footing. Adrien cursed under his breath, pulled off his captain’s coat, and threw it below the deck. “I want all hands on deck!” Adrien screamed over the wind and thunder. “Raise that anchor, reef the mainsail, and I want someone on the helm! Now! Go!”

Everyone scrambled to their positions. Ivan and Kim quickly ran to raise the anchor while Nathanael tripped up the stairs to the wheel and started turning the boat to make sure it was perpendicular to the approaching waves. Nino started directing the rest of the crew to furl the sails while everyone else struggled against the wind and rain to tie off the ropes. 

“What are your orders captain?” Nathanael shouted over the wind. 

“Run off downwind!” Adrien instructed. “This storm is only centered on this one spot. If we can sail downwind and get away from that island we might just get out of this. You better be ready for some clever steering.”

“Aye aye, captain!” Nathanael answered, spinning the wheel with both hands and squinting against the pelting rain. 

For a few minutes, everything was under control. Nathanael had managed to turn the ship downwind and they were doing pretty well navigating the storm away from the island without any of the sails. But right when Adrien thought they were going to get out this mess unscathed, an earsplitting, inhuman screech sounded over the wind and thunder and caused the entire crew to freeze in their tracks and feel their blood run cold. Adrien ran for the edge of the ship and stared out at the island in the distance, glaring when he realized the screeching was coming from the direction of the island. “That fucking mermaid,” he muttered. He took out his pistol and pulled the trigger, but the gunpowder inside was too wet from all the rain to be useful to him. He threw it to the ground with a snarl. “Everyone who knows how to handle a sword, draw it!” Adrien shouted, pulling his own sword out and keeping his eyes on the water. “If you see anything suspicious — anything jump out of the water — kill it on sight!”

As if in reaction to the order, a strike of lightning came zipping out of the sky and struck the water only a few yards from their ship, the resulting snap of thunder making Adrien feel like his eardrums were bursting. He stared up at the clouds above them and saw that even though their ship was further away from the island, it didn’t look any further away from the mass of clouds above them. It was as if no matter which direction the ship sailed, the storm was following them, intent on placing them in the center of all the chaos. Everything was too calculated and too well timed, almost as if there was someone consciously controlling this storm. 

The moment the thought crossed his mind, an impossibly powerful wind knocked against the side of the boat, waves tipping it over and causing the crew to collapse against one side of the boat. Nathanael was at the helm trying to take control of the ship, but suddenly the wind blew directly against him and knocked him back away from the wheel, causing him to tumble down the stairs and onto the deck with the rest of the crew. Adrien frantically looked around to see if there was anything that they could do, but then another strike of lightening hit the very center of the deck, sprouting a small, short fire that was quickly extinguished by the pelting rain. 

Suddenly, Adrien could hear thumping sounds on the side of the ship, as if a knife were hacking away at a hunk of wood. Before he could turn his head to look over the rail and stare down at the side of the ship, two daggers imbedded themselves into the wood of the rail as a mermaid pulled herself up by the handles and grinned down at the cowering crew beneath her with dark, sharp, frightening teeth. 

This definitely wasn’t Marinette — she was covered in golden scales instead of scarlet ones, and her hair was long and blonde instead of jet black. Adrien barely had time to register the ambush and betrayal in his head before she yanked one of the daggers out of the wood, grabbed Adrien’s shoulder, and shoved him back against the ship with a frightening amount of force that Adrien couldn’t fight against. The steel of her dagger was pressed against his jugular, and her screams were earsplitting and convincing enough to cause the rest of his crew to cover their ears and back away from her. 

On the other side of the ship, Adrien could see another mermaid scaling the side of the ship with daggers clutched in each of her hands, and his vision went red when he saw that it was Marinette. She dropped two bulging satchels onto the deck of the ship and calmly sat down on the edge so that her fins were dangling only a few inches away from the floor. Her eyes found Adrien’s and she giggled madly before she lifted her hands and snapped her fingers. Almost instantly, the rain stopped, the wind stilled, and the waves began to calm as the ship started to right itself. The clouds that were swirling above them had suddenly stopped moving, and the darkened skies, sopping wet deck, and singed floor were the only evidence that there had been a storm to begin with. 

Marinette smoothed her hands down her tail and the droplets of water that were still stuck to her scales rolled off of her and dripped down onto the floor. As her tail dried, Adrien watched in amazement as the scales on her body slowly started to sink into her skin, her gills began to close up, her claws and teeth retracted, and her tail began to slowly split and shorten into two human legs. Marinette tilted her head and cracked out the kinks in her neck as she hopped onto the deck and tapped a young crew member cowering against the mast on his shoulder. 

“I’m going to need to borrow your jacket, dear,” she said softly. “It’s getting a bit cold without clothes on.”

The crewmember trembled as he unbuttoned his jacket and threw it at Marinette who quickly slipped it on and buttoned it up to the top. “Hello, gentleman,” she greeted warmly. “Hope the bit of rain was refreshing.”

Nino growled at her. “You vile little — ”

The other mermaid let out a warning growl and pressed her dagger into Adrien’s skin. Marinette chuckled. “I wouldn’t finish that sentence. My friend is more than capable of ripping your captain’s throat out in under two seconds.”

“Y-You promised you wouldn’t harm us,” Kim stammered. 

“Oh, and I won’t,” Marinette promised. “So long as your captain listens to what I have to say and agrees to my terms.”

Adrien gritted his teeth against the sharp blade that was leaving droplets of his blood to roll down his neck, but he swallowed and spoke as clearly and firmly as he could manage. “Fine. What do you want?”

“I really didn’t appreciate how I was treated today,” Marinette pouted. “Being tied up and having guns and swords pointed at me all day. It was rather unpleasant, and very unappreciated. I requested that I be treated like your equal, and seeing as how I wasn’t sufficiently convincing before, I’ve decided to be a little bit more persuasive this time around.” She jutted her chin behind the captain and smiled. “This is my friend Chloe. Beautiful girl, isn’t she?”

The mermaid with the golden scales chuckled cruelly in Adrien’s ears, her teeth gnashing in delight. “It’s terrible business for a woman to travel alone with a bunch of men, and having a close friend by my side during this long journey to retrieve the Miraculous Stones would make me feel a lot better. We’ll give you the gold and promise not to kill you if you let her join us. I promise you won’t even know she’s there.”

Chloe pressed the knife harder against Adrien’s throat, and he began coughing against the pressure. “Fine,  _ fine! _ I agree to those terms!”

“I wasn’t done, captain,” Marinette frowned. She walked closer to Adrien until she was crouching down in front of him and tapping the underside of his chin so that he was looking directly at her. “I am not some silly, defenseless little girl that you’re free to treat however you please. I am your equal on this ship. You will respect me on this ship. No treating me like a prisoner. No condescension. No mistreatment whatsoever. And certainly no looking down on my word. If you can agree to all that, you are welcome to my gold so that we can find Hawkmoth  _ together _ . If not, we’ll just call upon another storm, sink your ship, and leave you to die at sea. It’s your choice.”

Adrien felt the gaze of his entire crew on him, and it was only at that moment that he realized how absolutely naive it had been of him to dare make a deal with a mermaid as fearsome as this one. His options were limited, and the lives of his crew were on the line, so Adrien merely set his jaw and nodded. “Fine,” he croaked out. “You are my equal, my Lady. No harm or disrespect will come to you.”

Marinette smiled sunnily and clapped her hands together. “Wonderful.” She stood up, surveyed the frightened men around her, and sighed in contentment, the perfect picture of innocence. “I do believe we’re all going to get along rather swimmingly, don’t you?”  


End file.
